


Masking the Self

by namidaame49



Category: Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth, Persona Series
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-24
Updated: 2021-01-24
Packaged: 2021-03-16 18:13:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 728
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28960764
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/namidaame49/pseuds/namidaame49
Summary: Rise and Yusuke have a chat between labyrinths about how masks you put on to face the world can even mask you from yourself.(Yusuke's Birthday day 3: Beneath the Mask)
Kudos: 7
Collections: Yusuke's Birthday





	Masking the Self

"You're...Kitagawa-san, right?"

Yusuke looked up from his sketchbook, hastily shoving his feelings into the darkness. "Yusuke is fine." He brushed his hair back from his face. "Can I do something for you, Kujikawa-san?"

She giggled. "You don't get to tell me to call you Yusuke and turn around and call me 'Kujikawa-san' in the same breath. Please, call me Rise. We're all in this together."

"Very well. Can I do something for you, Rise?"

"Nothing in particular. Teddie's being Teddie again and I thought...this would be a good time for me to get to know some of the rest of you."

"Mm." Yusuke rolled his shoulders back, trying to get some of the stiffness out of them. Their earlier trip through the labyrinth had been particularly rough, and even though Yukiko-san had proven an excellent healer, some residual stiffness remained where he had been thrown shoulder-first into a wall. "There isn't much to know with me, I'm afraid. I am merely an artist caught up in a quest to make the world a more beautiful place."

Rise smiled, and he could almost see her idol facade fading away until just the normal high school girl stood in front of him. "'Merely'? I think you sell yourself short, Yusuke." Seeing his skeptical face, she added, "Believe it or not, I do want to get to know everyone as people. Not only does it help me check on your statuses during battles more easily, it's just nice to talk to more people like me."

"Like you? Persona users?"

"People trying to make the world a better place." Her expression was open, earnest. "I only know what Akira and Ann have told me about your group, but it sounds like you've all been through a lot. And the fact that your Personas take the form of masks that you wear...it seems...sadly fitting, in a way."

Yusuke sighed, closing his sketchbook. "So you want our life stories?"

"I want to know what you're comfortable telling me. I can sense you've got a lot of pain beneath that mask you're putting on for us. Not that I can blame you for hiding it. I'm an idol. My whole career is based on a mask I put on for people. But...not that I regret it, but the reason I'm here -- the reason I have a Persona -- is that my mask was starting to _become_ me. And it would be a shame for me to become an empty shell to be what other people want me to be."

Yusuke waited, but it seemed like she was done speaking. "Pardon my ignorance, but I'm afraid I don't see the connection between your idol career and wanting to get to know us."

"I don't want you to rely too much on your mask. You've got incredible strength of will and I can tell. But whatever it is that brought you here -- the reason you had to develop that mask in the first place -- I'm wording this poorly, I'm sorry. I guess what I'm trying to say is -- I want you to still be _you."_

He considered her words for a moment, trying to allow the feelings of sadness and anger to surface just a little. "Life is a series of masks," he said quietly. "Sometimes they protect us. Sometimes they give us power."

"And sometimes they consume you." Rise placed a hand on his arm. "So you have to piece together a mask from all the ones you've had to make to find one that's _you._ Not your past, not your fears, but what you've made from those experiences."

He chuckled. "And here I was hoping that my true self was actually a kitsune."

Rise laughed with him, their voices melding in the small theater. "Just think about it, okay? Don't be so focused on being strong and moving beyond your past that you forget who you are behind that mask. It's okay to not be okay all the time. And if you don't feel comfortable talking to me about it, that's totally fine and understandable."

Yusuke nodded slowly. "I believe I understand."

Rise shifted in her seat and Yusuke's hands flew up to frame her. "Ah, the lighting is precisely optimal! Please, allow me to draw you."

Rise's smile was dazzling. "Only if I get to see it after."

"Of course...."


End file.
